Some Historical Questions

The Bristol Model Railway Exhibition in Thornbury the weekend before last was a very successful show.  There were long periods of nothing, but that’s quite usual for such specialised models as  mine, but there were also plenty of busy times with lots of interest and plenty of sales.  It helped having the superb Law Junction N gauge layout of East Neuk Model Railway Club directly in front of me.  This show was considerably better than the one in Alexandra Palace in London at the end of March, and was considerably closer.  Since then I’ve been working on making up models for outstanding orders from the show, which have now been completed.

Last Saturday, for a break I called in to Lord & Butler model railway shop in Cardiff to see what I could find in the shape of accessories for my Haverfordwest layout.  They had just had a delivery of some very nicely produced models in the “Model Scene” range that is an off-shoot of Peco in Beer on the beautiful South Devon coast.  Included in these new models were some bicycles and a modern bus stop shelter, which made me think.  There are bus stops and shelters at Haverfordwest now.  Google Earth have sent their camera car around the station again since the completion of the station car park several years ago, and you can see the buses and shelters on this.  However, I was sure that they weren’t there when I photographed the station back in the year 2000, which is the date set for my model railway layout.

What I did see though was an N gauge “Oxford” model (another off-shoot company – this time part of Corgi who are still based down the road from me in Swansea)  of a Morris 1000 traveller.  So why should I want a model of a car from the 1960s on a layout based on the year 2000?

Car Park to the Right of the Station

Here’s the reason why.  Right next to the station is a very well-preserved Moggi Thou Traveller (Morris Thousand).  And this is what the Oxford model of it looks like:

The Oxford Model of a Morris 1000 Traveller

I’ll have to see if I can find any other models of the same makes of cars as in the photo, although I think that some degree of artistic licence may be used here.

But it’s not just cars where there are (or were 12 years ago) relics from the past at Haverfordwest.

The Up platform at Haverfordwest

There are a few things of note in what looks like a fairly mundane photo of a station platform.  Digressing for a moment, I couldn’t find any N gauge model station lights, nor street lights of this type, nor of the concrete flower tubs, so I scratchbuilt one of each and put them in the mould with some of the parts for the Scammell Commander.  This model has sold really well, so I’ve now got loads of spare model lights and flower tubs.  If anyone wants any of either item as in this photo please let me know and you can have them for a nominal amount to cover the cost of the metal and postage.  Incidentally, the Google Earth views of the station now show that these lights have been replaced with different ones.

The real reason for showing this photo is the bench seat.  I haven’t got any close-up photos of the seat myself, but you can find some on other websites.  They are ancient GWR seats (God’s Wonderful Railway, or Great Western Railway to be more correct).  Several years ago during a chat with one of the organisers of the now apparently defunct South Wales Model Show, he told me that Haverfordwest station was originally a broad gauge station built by Brunel on the line to Neyland where the trains connected to trans-Atlantic vessels taking people across to America.  There was a bronze statue of Brunel at Neyland until some money grabbing metal thieves stole it to get the scrap value.  I doubt if the seats go that far back in time, but they must be at least 60 years old.

The Shire Scenes etched brass GWR seats

There are (or maybe were) three of these GWR seats at Haverfordwest, so I needed to see if I could find any in N gauge.  A trawl through some sites came up with Shire Scenes who have a range of etched brass sets that look very good.  There are three seats in a pack, but enough legs for just two per seat.  The ones at the station also have a central set of legs, so two packs were needed for the three seats.  I haven’t assembled them yet, but they look easy enough to do.

But that’s not all that’s changed at Haverfordwest in the last few years.  Back in 2000 when I first took a set of photos at the station this is what I saw:

Some of the sheds back in 2000

Just four years later though, this was the scene:

The Goods Yard in 2004

The sheds in the previous photos have now been demolished and there’s now a brick yard in place of them.  In a similar vein, the warehouse on the A40 to the extreme left of my layout has been modelled as “Greens Parts” as I saw it, but it’s now a Coastal Cottages Holiday Information Centre.

As the old saying goes, time waits for no man.  This layout is being built for my own enjoyment, so I don’t really have to worry too much about what I put on it, but half of the challenge for me is to try to get things as accurately as I can, and that includes having the correct structures and fittings for the date that I’m setting for the layout.

The Ferret Taking Shape

Correcting a mistake

This little model of a Ferret is proving to be quite a challenge.  It consists almost entirely of angled armoured plate with hardly any perpendicular plates, and only a few horizontal ones.  The main reason why this model is so taxing is that by working in such a small scale, just a few thousandths (or tenths of a millimetre to use SI units) out can alter the angle of a plate by as much as 20 degrees.  In the photo above you can see a much bigger boo-boo.  I wasn’t happy with the way it was looking, but couldn’t work out why.  Then I twigged that I had the hull length wrong.  I was using one line for the front of the hull, but should have been using another one.  The error was about 1.5mm (60 thou) out.  In the photo you can see the extra pieces of 60 thou that I’ve added to correct the fault.  Luckily, I still managed to get the angled upper hull in the right spot.

Adding two parallel strips for the lower hull sides

With that one problem solved, I turned to the lower hull sides.  I started with a piece of Evergreen strip 60 thou thick by about 100 thou wide.  I filed down one side to chamfer it to the correct angle for the sides and then cut it in two, one for each side, to make two pieces both at the same angle.  They were fixed in place along both sides, although their middle sections will have to be removed for the wider central part of the hull.

Adding wedges to fill gaps in the mud guards

With the two side pieces in place this left triangular gaps between the sides and the mudguards.  I cut out some pieces of plastic strip that were cut to the right angle and were fixed in place with plenty of solvent to weld the plastic in place.  Once fully set, the plastic was carved down to the same profile as the mudguards.  At the moment the mudguards are way too thick.  This is partially intentional to make the model easier to handle at this early stage, and to save the mudguards from snapping off.

Working on the central section of the hull

With the hull sides fully set, I cut away the central section on one side and added plastic strip to make the wider central section.  With one side done, I added some strip for the other side before cutting away the central part of the hull side.

The central section opened up

In this photo above you can see that I’ve cut away the hull side to the top to the correct profile, with the other side still to be done.  It’s quite difficult working with something that’s so small.  This model is about 5mm smaller than the Land Rovers that I’ve done, and so is my smallest model so far.  It’s also a far more complex shape, but what’s life without a challenge!

I quick look at the upper side of the hull for a change

Moving back to the upper face of the model, you can see that I’ve now re-worked the two front mudguards and am happy that they are as close as I can get to being at the same angle.  I’ve also added the rear engine deck to the hull.

The turret has been cut and filed to shape

The turret started off as a solid lump of plastic strip that had either end angled to start with, and then the two angled plates on either side.  You have to get the angles right in two dimensions at the same time, both in plan and side/end views.  A lot more work is needed on this, but the basic shape looks about right.

The under side now looking better

Here’s the under side with both sides of the central section now cut to shape.  I’ve been making these little models in pewter for a few years now and am learning through experience with each model that I do.  I’m making this one with the sides varying between 60 thou to 40 thou thick to allow a good flow of the metal during casting.  Hopefully this should cast okay.

The hull floor with strips added to locate it

The hull floor was made from a piece of 40 thou plastic card, with 20 thou strips added inside it to the profile of the inside of the hull so that the floor will locate positively without any alternative but one way to fit it.  The next challenge is to sort out the rear of the hull floor so that it will key in with the upper hull.

Next weekend I shall be at the Bristol Model Railway Exhibition in Thornbury, near the old Severn Bridge on the M48.  This is a three-day show, starting Friday lunchtime and carrying on until 7pm at night, and then full days on the Saturday and Sunday, so it’s quite tiring.  Last year the Friday was the William and Kate marriage which was an extra  bank holiday.  The show  was absolutely heaving with people keen to be away from their televisions.  The one good thing about this show is that it’s less than an hour’s drive from my home, so is the only one where I don’t have the cost of overnight accommodation.

Finishing off the buildings

Starting the smaller warehouse

Carrying on from last weekend’s post, after the main warehouse I then made the smaller one to the left of it.  Again this was another  corrugated  iron building which seems to have started off as a small extension to the side of the larger warehouse, with an extension added to the rear, and then another added to the end of it, to make a building in three parts.  In order to support the roof adequately I made the first part with a corrugated front, and a plain back wall made of 40 thou plastic card, which will end up being hidden from view.

The rear wall and rear roof added

Here you can see the rear wall added, made of more Evergreen corrugated plastic card, and the corrugated rear roof added that is resting on the piece of 40 thou plastic card.  It took a while to work out the angles of the roof, which have been guessed at, but look something like the photos I’ve got of the actual building.

The pieces laid out for the end part

The end part of the warehouse was made in the same way as the other parts, with Evergreen corrugated plastic card, and with a piece of 40 thou plastic card as a floor.  The dimensions for the parts are taken from my drawing to the left.  You can also see the tools that I’ve used to make it.  In this case, two sizes of scalpel blade, a file, pair of tweezers, pair of pliers (useful for breaking off thicker plastic card, a steel rule, and a pencil to mark out where to cut).

The three parts joined together

The three  parts were joined together using my set square to make sure that everything was true.  It’s very easy to go slightly off a 90 degree angle, which is where the set square is so useful.  I had just one photo which shows that there are doors at the end of this building, but the exact style of them had to be guessed at.

The finished building

Here’s the finished building with roof and guttering added, and pieces of corrugated iron fixed over the windows front and back, although funnily enough, they didn’t bother covering over the door to the right of the window.  In this photo I am finishing it off with the ridge pieces being added to the roof, made out of two pieces of 10 thou plastic strip.

The two buildings joined together

Before joining the two buildings together I first checked that they were both parallel to each other by placing them next to a metal ruler.  The smaller building was at a slight angle and so the walls and roof were filed slightly at the back to square things up.  Once I was happy with this, I joined the two buildings together using my usual Mek-Pak solvent.

The first base coat of paint

I’ve never bothered with a primer or undercoat when painting plastic sheet.  I find that Humbrol enamels work perfectly okay applied directly onto the plastic.  I started off by painting the buildings in a fairly pristine manner, with some rust dry brushed over the smaller building.  At this stage though the buildings look a bit flat.

Applying a wash of thinned black enamel

The big warehouse is in the middle of a wash of very thin black enamel that is more like dirty white spirit.  This helps add some depth to the building and starts to bring out some of the contours of it.

Getting better with some dry brushing

The larger warehouse has had some dry-brushing with a mix of 50% of the original blue colour and 50% white.  This is applied very gently a bit at a time.  The smaller building has had some heavy dry-brushing with white, grey and some light green added that seems to have been the original colour of the building.

Checking the model against photos of the original

As always, I constantly check what I’m doing against photos of the original buildings.  You can see that the photo of the smaller building shows more of an orange rust colour than what I’ve got.

The completed buildings

Here are the two buildings completed.  The lighter orange rust is now nearer what could see in the photos.  These buildings are at the back of Haverfordwest Goods Yard, but I feel that they have an important part to play in setting the scene.  They were semi-derelict when I photographed them, and both  buildings have since been demolished, but they help to show what the Goods Yard was like when I photographed it back in 2000.

A couple more buildings

Last weekend I wanted to spend a few days over the Easter holiday doing something different from work on the Ferret or more casting and cleaning to build up my stock, so I decided to have a go at doing a couple more buildings for my Haverfordwest layout.

The raw materials

I started off just after lunch on Good Friday 6th April with a set of my own drawings that I had made up using a 1:500 scale Ordnance Survey map and taking dimensions from that to estimate the shape and size of the buildings.  I had a sheet of Evergreen 30 thou “Metal Siding” corrugated sheet, and my assortment of sizes of plastic strip and rod.

The finished buildings

And ended up with this by lunchtime on Easter Monday 9th April.  I’ll show you how I did it in a couple of posts, starting with the larger of the two buildings.

Joining two pieces to make a side piece

The sides of the building were slightly longer than the width of the Evergreen plastic card, so I cut out two strips to the same depth and joined them together to position the join over what will be one of the four loading doors.  For added strength I also glued a piece of 40 thou scrap over the joint.

Cutting out the windows

The next thing was to cut out the windows that are above the loading doors.  As you can see in the photo above, I always use Swan Morton scalpel blades in my model making.  I first started using these at college doing dissections as part of my Biology degree, and have carried on ever since using them in my hobby.  You have to be careful as the blades are fairly thin, so they do snap and fly across the room now and again, but not that often.

Thinning down the plastic sheet with files

The Evergreen sheet is about 40 thou thick, which is good for structural strength.  However, I needed to thin this right down to 20 thou thick for the four loading doors on each side.  I cut out a strip of card long enough for all eight doors and then used a large file to start with to get down near the required thickness, and then a smaller one that is just above the big one in the photo above to finish off.

Adding the door frames

I put a strip of plastic along the length of each side, and then fixed the four doors per side just below the strip.  In the photo above I am adding more plastic strip to build up the covered runners for the doors to open and close.

Checking the size of the doors against a railway wagon

I am not going to be displaying the layout with wagons up against these buildings, but that is what they were designed for, so a good check to make sure that I had the dimensions more or less right was to put the doors up against a suitable wagon.  In the photo above you can see that they seem to be about right.

Adding window frames

My photos showed just three windows at the back of the building, which you can see above.  The windows were glazed with some clear acetate sheet and window frames were made up from plastic strip.

Joining the sides and ends together

Hopefully the buildings won’t be knocked around when fixed on the layout, but I wanted to make them reasonably sturdy as the layout has to be dismantled into its three bases for storage when not in use, so it is moved around a bit.  I made a floor for the building in 60 thou plastic card.  In the photo above I’ve added one side and the two ends to the base – and then discovered that the base wasn’t quite wide enough, so a strip of 10 thou plastic card is about to be added to correct the error.

Starting to take shape

One important thing to do at this stage is to make sure that everything is square.  In this photo I’ve lined up the building on the squares of my cutting mat, and everything looks square enough.

Thining down the outer edges

The corrugated roof overlaps the ends and sides slightly, so all outer edges were thinned down to just 20 thou of corrugated plastic rather than the original 40 thou of the sheet.

Adding legs to the base of the building

My layout of Haverfordwest is based on when I went there and took a series of photos in 2000.  At that time all of these warehouses were semi-derelict with weeds all around them.  As a result, I couldn’t get any clear photos of the base of this building, but I shall be surrounding them with weeds, so my guess won’t be that visible.  It’s something like what was there.

Adding the guttering

The final thing to do was to add the gutters along the lower edge of each side of the roof, with down-pipes at either end.  The guttering was made using Evergreen half-round strip.

The larger building completed

And here’s the larger of the two buildings completed.  In the next post I’ll show how I made the smaller of the two buildings, and how I painted them.

Start of the Ferret

The Scammell Commander, followed by the Challenger 1 were the biggest models in the range, which are both contemporary for the 1980s and 1990s.  For my  next model I am going back in time to the 1950s and to what will be the smallest model in the range so far, the Ferret Scout Car.  The first model will be the Ferret Mark 2/3, which was by far the most numerous one, and I might do some other variants to follow.  These vehicles had a long life in the British Army, being used continuously right through from Malaya and Germany in the early 1950s, right up to Kuwait in the early 1990s where a small number were used in the first Gulf War side by side with Challenger tanks and Scammell Commander tank transporters.

The start of the hull

One problem with nearly all metal alloys is that they can shrink slightly when the metal cools to cause cavitation.  Luckily this isn’t a major problem with the pewter that I use.  With  some models though, such as the two Stalwarts in my range, the first casting when the mould is cold, always results in cavitation at the back of the lower hull.  The way to avoid this is to make parts as thin as possible and trying to avoid any large lumps of metal (although the word “large” is a relative term with such small models as mine).  As a result I shall make the Ferret with separate upper and lower hulls to try to avoid this problem.

Adding some 10 thou to square up the hull sides

I started with the angled top part of the upper hull.  The first picture shows a solid block of plastic card with the front and rear angles cut into it.  In the photo above I have cut the side angles.  One side was cut away a bit too much, so a strip of 10 thou plastic card was fixed on over the offending side to square it up.  This was left for several hours for the solvent to completely vapourise off and was then cut close to the desired shape, and then gently filed to shape.

Checking the part against the plans

As with all models, it is essential to constantly check and re-check your work against your references.  In this case I was extremely fortunate to have a set of plans produced by the late Mick Bell.  He had drawn the plans on Autocad on his computer, using a huge number of dimensions that he’d taken of the real thing.  The beauty of Autocad is that Mick could print off the plans for me in exactly 1/152nd scale, which completely removed any errors in the setting up of a photocopier (they are often a few percent out, so whenever I use one I always reduce plans at the percentage that I want, plus another copy 1% greater and another 1% smaller than I want).  The other advantage is that by reducing 1/76th scale plans the lines end up half the thickness of the original drawing, but with these ones the plans were normal thickness.

The under side of the main hull taking shape

To give you an idea of the size of this little beast, each of the squares on the cutting mat are 1cm x 1cm.  In this photo I’ve cut out the hull top in 40 thou plastic card and have added the upper front glacis, and one of the sides in 60 thou.

Looking at it from above

Here’s another view of the hull at the same stage of construction, this time looking at it from above.  I am starting off with the wheel arches well over scale.  These will be cut back with chamfers so that the outer edge will be thin, but a lot thicker further in.  That way I hope to achieve the appearance of wheel arches that are the correct scale thickness (or as near as possible) on the visible outer face, but thick enough inside to allow the molten metal to flow properly when I cast it.

Adding the front mudguards

It was only when I saw this photo that I realised that I had correctly added the front mudguards at an angle, but the two angles are not symmetrical.  I’ll work out which one is wrong, carefully cut it off and try again.  The one difference between an experienced model maker (I was going to say “old” – well, that too) and a new one is that both make probably the same number of mistakes, but the older one knows how to correct them, from years of practice.

All the parts so far

Here’s all that I’ve done so far.  The underside of the upper hull has been cut away in the centre underneath where the angled part will go.  I’ve also made up what will be the engine decks.  All three parts will be joined together to form just the one part.

Getting Ready for Alexandra Palace

Just a quick post to say that I’m working flat out this week building up my stock ready to go off to Alexandra Palace on Friday for The London Festival of Railway Modelling. I’ll have every model in the range in stock for the show, although with just a few models of some of the range. So, if there’s a particular model that you want it might be best to get it as soon as you can before I sell what I’ve brought.
I’ve also now had confirmation that I have a stand again at the Bristol Model Railway Exhibition in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire on 4th – 6th May 2012. Last year this was a very busy show for me, so it’ll be interesting to see how it goes this year.

A Question of Size

An assembled Commander and Challenger on a wooden base

Most of my customers are N gauge railway modellers, followed by some 1/144th scale aircraft modellers, and a few model collectors.  For all of these modellers there is no problem with the size of my models as they buy them because of their small size, to go with their equally small locomotives or aircraft.  However, I have recently had a lot of interest from both serving soldiers and former ones, mainly in my Scammell Commander model.

The Scammell Commander in my hand during painting

With my former profession as a Trading Standards Officer, the last thing that I would want to do is to falsely or inaccurately describe any of my products.  I have had a number of e-mails from people asking to buy a Scammell Commander and each time I tell them that the combined length of the Scammell Commander tractor unit coupled to the Crane Freuhauf trailer is just 128mm (about 5 inches).  This usually results in silence from the person receiving my e-mail.  It is pleasing to think that people are looking at the photos of my models on my website and are thinking that the models are bigger than they actually are, but I would hate to be raising people’s expectations, only to dash them when they find out how small my models are.

Another view of the assembled models

To try to save any further confusion, I have today added a paragraph to my description of the Scammell Commander kit on my website to make it clear to anyone unfamiliar with my models that they are being sold as kits, and that this particular model is just 128mm (about 5 inches) long.

Holding an assembled Warrior model

A number of people have commented at shows that I must have good eye-sight to make such small and such detailed models.  Unfortunately, the answer is the complete opposite.  I am so short-sighted (myopic) that I now get free eye tests as the lenses for my glasses are classed as a special type (there is some precise term for this, but it’s something like that).   With such short sight, I have to hold things just a few inches from my eyes to focus in on them with my glasses off, but when I do so, my optician has told me that I can see things about twice the size of normally sighted people.  I was told that another patient/client painted portraits the size of a UK postage stamp, which is something that I can relate to.

You will notice from the pictures of the assembled Scammell Commander on a base that I am supplying some on my kits assembled and mounted on a simple wooden base.  This is available to anyone at twice the price of the kit.  Very rarely, I have also been asked for assembled and painted models, which can also be done for three times the price, but not on a base.

On Track Military Modelling Show

The MAFVA Display area

Last weekend, on Saturday 25th February I attended the On Track Military Modelling Show in Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone.  I was originally invited to attend this show as a trader, but I did so once when it was the Trucks ‘N’ Tracks show over a whole weekend, and I sold just 7 models over the entire weekend.  I enjoy making my little models in 1/152nd scale, but this is most definitely not a popular military modelling scale.  As a result, I agreed to attend solely as an exhibitor.

Another view of the MAFVA display, showing the South Wales stand

One of my friends in South Wales MAFVA, Mike Gill offered to come along with me, so we went together with a joint South Wales MAFVA display. We were in the Chanel View Suite  which is a level below the main hall, so we had plenty of exercise up and down the stairs with two flights down from the entrance into the main hall, and another down to where we were.

The South Wales MAFVA display

At the previous show in the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton I displayed a variety of different models, but this time I had just my little 1/152nd scale models, from the first ones cast in resin right up to the recent Scammell Commander and Challenger 1 in pewter. To emphasise that this was a display rather than just a sales pitch, I put captions against each diorama to explain a bit about them.

The newest and one of the oldest

In this photo you can see at the top left the newest models in the form of my little Pembroke scene that I’ve described in previous blogs, and below that my workshop scene which is one of my oldest with all of the models made of resin.  One good thing about resin models is that they are a lot easier to convert.  On this diorama are Land Rovers opened up with stretched sprue tilts added, and several vehicles with doors open.  The big downside is that my friend who cast them for me is a very experienced resin caster and even he had difficulties casting these little models.  He gave me just the relatively complete castings, but there were still a number with air holes that couldn’t be sold.  When it came to me deciding which material to use when I re-launched the range a few years ago, it was clear to me that I had to use metal, although I wanted something a bit better than the more usual white metal, which is why I ended up using lead-free pewter, that is both lighter and tougher than white metal.

End view of the display

The depot scene at the back of the display was shown with some Dragon 1/144th scale models, Challenger 2, Warrior, MLRS, and AS90.  I’m pleased that I got these models when I did as I haven’t seen them on any traders’ stands, nor in any shops for quite a while.  In front of the depot scene is my one of a Welsh Models vac-formed Hercules in 1/144th scale, and next to that is my first 1/152nd scale diorama of a road during the first Gulf War, which I still like despite being 24 years old.

A closer look at the centre of the display

Here’s a closer look at the centre of the display.  I included a 1/200th scale Ramped Craft Logistic as I’m still pleased in the way that this model turned out.  I have deliberately left it as I first produced it, with just some dusting to keep it clean, but no polishing to see how the patina of the pewter develops.  So far I think it still looks quite presentable.  Also on display are two resin models of a Bedford MJ and 3/4 ton Land Rover Hardtop, still left in bare resin, and a partially tilted Leyland/DAF DROPS pewter model to show the difference between the two materials.

I’ve now come to the last in my outstanding orders which will be dispatched in the next couple of days, which means that I can concentrate in building up some stock in time for the London Festival of Railway Modelling in Alexandra Palace in three weeks time.

South West Model Show

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been busy making up models to complete orders.  A retailer who used to be my largest customer changed ownership a while ago and has now re-ordered more of my models, which is pleasing.  There seems to have been quite a bit of interest in my Scammell Commander model in the last couple of weeks, both on its own, and with a Challenger 1 as a load.

The South Wales MAFVA stand at The Fleet Air Arm Museum

It was good to have a day off Saturday last weekend 11th February where I attended the South West Model Show at The Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton.  This show is held twice a year in February and October, and South Wales MAFVA attend both shows.  I was there in October with my friend Tom Watkins, and last weekend with another friend Mike Johns.  There is a core of about 10 members of South Wales MAFVA and we’ve known each other for quite a number of years, and always get on together well.

Mike Johns' display of models

Mike models in 1/35th scale.  Most of his models are WWII German with a few Allied vehicles as well.  All of his models are kits that he makes up to a high standard.  Despite numerous attempts by me, Mike has never entered any of his models into a competition, he simply enjoys making them, and what better reason is needed other than that.

An assortment of my models on display

By way of a contrast, my models are all modern British subjects in what could be called “braille scale” (1/76th) and “micro armour” (1/152nd), not forgetting my 1/200th scale RCL in the centre as well.  That in many ways is the beauty of being a member of a model club.  We all have varying interests in both period and nationality as well as in scale, but we can all help each other with ideas and suggestions.

The first showing on my Pembroke diorama

Here’s a good example of where friends can help.  I wasn’t happy with the way my little “Pembroke” scene looked as the front of it looked too empty.  After showing it to some of my friends I decided to take the train off the bridge as it made the scene look a bit top-heavy, and added some cars and beer kegs to the pub car park in front.  I’m a lot happier with this end result.

Some of Tim Neate's models on the Mendip Modellers stand

Directly in front of us were Mendip Modellers, many of whom I have known for a number of years, including Tim Neate who has been a member of this club for quite a while.  I first met Tim at the MAFVA Nationals in Blaby, Leicestershire way back in 1983, and we’ve been friends ever since.  We only meet up a few times each year (twice at Yeovilton and the MAFVA Nationals in Duxford, and may be somewhere else during the year) but whenever we do, we always get on together well.

An AS90 in front and a Leyland/DAF DROPS behind it

The main difference between Tim’s modelling and mine is that I tend to go for displays of groups of vehicles, whereas Tim’s displays are mainly of single vehicles that are superbly detailed and finished to an exceptionally high standard.  If you’d like to see more of his work, I can highly recommend Tim’s website that is well laid out and has some superb images of his models.

Next Saturday 25th February I am at another show with the South Wales MAFVA stand.  This time it’s On Track Military Modelling Show in Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone.  I shall be there with another South Wales MAFVA member Mike Gill (we’ve got two Mikes and four Paul’s in the Branch).  I hope to be displaying my 1/152nd scale dioramas that will be complimenting Mike Gill’s 1/76th scale models.

Finishing the Scene

Adding some bushes to the embankment

I made up some bushes using pieces of rubberised horse-hair cut off from a block of it that I bought at a model railway show.  I cut it into small pieces using a pair of nail scissors and slightly pulled it apart to open it out slightly.  Once happy with the shape I brushed on PVA glue and sprinkled on some flock (in this case from Woodland Scenics).  Leave the pieces of bush to dry out for an hour or two, and then they can be fixed on to the scene using Bostik contact adhesive.  It’s a bit like making a jig-saw, except there are no right or wrong pieces to use.  Just use those that fit and interlock the best between the other pieces.

And just a little bit of grass

In real life, the bushes are cut away from the railway tracks where grass can grow instead.  This was modelled using two shades of Noch static grass that are puffed out of the inverted plastic containers onto a PVA/water mix that is brushed on to the remaining areas of exposed earth.

Painting the pavement

The paving slabs were painted in varying shades of stone colour by adding browns, black,  grey and white to small quantities of the original colour.  At this stage they look somewhat garish, but that will be corrected with the washes.

Applying a wash of diluted black to the pavement

Several washes of very thinned black acrylic paint were brushed over the paving slabs to tone down the colours until they looked suitably worn and grubby.

Repainted front doors

There are some simple things that can be done to improve a scene like this using “out-of-the-box” buildings.  One is to repaint all but one of the front doors to the houses.  Have a look along any street of houses and see how many have the same colour front doors.  You may get it on a new estate, but nearly all older houses will have different colours and maybe different styles of doors and windows if the residents have been taken in by the hype from the double glazing salesman.

Using rub-down road markings

I tried using some rub-down road markings, but wasn’t over impressed by the way they came out.  It was quite difficult to get the sheet correctly in position under the railway bridge, and sometimes the decal moved as I lifted off the backing sheet.  The end result isn’t too bad, but I shall probably just stick to using white paint and masking tape in the future.

Adding just a few clumps of weeds

I added a few clumps of weeds using another set from Noch.  I cut some of them in two to have smaller clumps that looked about right around the base of the stone walls.

Converting the policeman into a soldier

One of the Bachmann policemen was converted into a soldier by cutting off the right arm and re-positioning it to have his hand raised.  The peaked cap was cut away and filed to a rough shape and Miliput two-part epoxy putty used to build up a beret on his head.  Once set, the trousers and tunic were re-painted green, and the beret black (should really be a very dark blue, but they look black in this scale).  Again it was left to dry and then the DPM (Disruptive Military Pattern) was applied over the green with splashes, spots and strips of sand, brown and black.

The completed figure

And here’s the completed figure.  To be 100% accurate his right shoulder should also be raised up slightly to go with his raised arm, but it doesn’t really show in something just 12mm high.

Some tie-down chains were attached to the Challenger

The Challenger tank was glued on to the trailer using two-part epoxy/Araldite.  Once set I added chains to attach the tank to the trailer.  Two to the front and two to the rear.  These were crossed over to prevent the load from moving sideways.  The chains are 40 links to the inch, which is about the finest that I have found, and look about right for this.  I got them from The N Gauge Society’s shop.  They come chemically blackenned which saves having to paint them.   The whole thing was then glued on to the base using PVA glue.

The finished scene

All that was left to do was to glue the vehicles in place as originally planned, using spots of PVA glue under the wheels, and the same to add the figures.

Looking at it end-on

And there it is,  not 100% prototypical but I feel that it captures the atmosphere of the place and gives an idea of how tight it is for the tank transporter crews.  Just after this bridge is a mini-roundabout followed by an equally narrow steep and very twisty down-hill.  It must be even worse for the crews of the Oshkosh tank transporters that replaced these ones that are longer vehicles, but they have turning (steerable) wheels on the trailer.